Weather on Adriatic

Monitoring of weather forecasts is essentially important for your safety and comfort during leisure sailing

Reading weather through following changes of wind speed and direction, “behaviour” of clouds and other atmospheric phenomena, is essentially important for your safety and comfort during leisure sailing.

Weather on Adriatic

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raditional sayings: Seamen, farmers, and many other professionals whose job depends upon weather conditions must watch the indicators all the time – therefore they collect a vast experience by memorising those many signs that appear prior to certain weather phenomena.A red-orange evening horizon promises fair weather, while morning pink skies announce rain. Undoubtedly, sunset watching is of great practical value for weather forecast, but for a single day only – and even for such an amateur reading a considerable experience is necessary. Generally, bright skies “tarnished” red, whether in the morning or in the evening, promise fair weather while red, but somewhat blurred skies announce weather change to stormy. There’s also a proverb saying that swallows follow them, as they’re their prey, flying also closer to the surface. A bright, sometimes rainbow cloured ring around the moon means rain in 18 to 48 hours, for sure in 75% cases.

Winds on Adriatic

Jugo (SE)

Bura (NE)

Maestral (NW)

Tramuntana (N)

Oštro (S)

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se of instruments in weather forecast: the basic meteorological instrument for local weather forecast is barometer, because exactly the air pressure changes provide useful elements for such a prognosis. For instance,the permanently high air pressure – or the one slowly rising to the local maximum – means fair weather,while sudden changes, even within a high average, announce change. Considerable fall of the locally average air pressure, especially when abrupt, reaching the lowest for a specific area or season, are a reliable sign of bad weather – that might last.

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eather forecast signs: weather changes seldom come without some kind of warning – they always send us some sign. Here are several indications for some types of weather along the Eastern Adriatic:

Jugo

The south-eastern wind locally called jugo, or scirocco, makes higher and more massive waves than any other in the region, because the direction of its blowing is exactly SE to NW, the one of the Adriatic Sea streching. Therefore jugo has a very long “path”,without geografic obstacles, where are ideal conditions for creation of long and high waves. Still, jugo is the not the most dangerous wind for seafaring, because it does not come abruptly and its waves are not dangerously steep. The indicators that tell us about jugo in progress are high tide, clouds in the W and NW skies, fall of air pressure and thickening of the high cloudy layers in the atmosphere.

Bura

Bura (bora) is the most dangerous wind in the Adriatic, because it comes abruptly,almost without any indication and achieves stormy intensity in a very short time. Characterized by extremely strong blows, it is a serious threat to smaller and middle-size vessels. Bura is typical of the eastern Adriatic coast and coastal sea, because it’s a typical thermic wind caused by warmer air above the sea surface to stream upwards – and the colder one rush to the sea in order to equalise the air pressure. Mostly blowing during the late hours and losing strenght towards noon, the summer bura is mostly a one day wind, while in the winter months it can last for several days, even for a whole week. Especially strong bura you can expirience when sailing the area of Trieste, the area of Senj, Šibenik, Omiš, Vrulja, and Cavtat. The people living in the islands facing the mount Velebit shores forecast bura by typical cloudy “caps” above its peaks; the lower edge of these clouds is horizontal and sharply cut.

Maestral

Maestral is very pleasant and rather mild summer thermic wind, blowing mostly from the NW and bringing freshness to the warm coastal area. It usually starts an hour before noon and lasts till late evening – maestral is an indication of stabile fair weather, when it ceases its daily rhythm, a change is certain. Mostly of moderate strenght, and therefore ideal for sailing, maestral turns into strong gales only after a long rain period – still announcing fair weather.